Latvia fines two banks for breaching North Korea sanctions

HELSINKI (AP) — Latvia's financial watchdog has fined two local banks for attempting to circumvent international sanctions on North Korea in a case that U.S. law enforcement authorities helped to identify.

The Latvian Financial and Capital Market Commission said Friday that Norvik Banka and Rietumu Banka have agreed to pay 1.3 million euros ($1.5 million) and 1.6 million euros in fines, respectively.

In a statement, the Baltic country's banking regulator said the U.S. Department of Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement unit and the FBI closely assisted in the investigation, and noted that it had earlier detected similar sanction violations by three other Latvian banks.

The offences took place between 2013 and 2014 for Norvik Banka and between 2009 and 2015 for Rietumu Banka.